Archway submits plans for new warehouse

Darcie Loreno Published: June 6, 2006 12:00 AM

By DARCIE LORENOT-G Staff WriterArchway Cookies and Mowry Construction officials went before City Planning Commission Monday as part of tentative plans for a possible 143,140 warehouse expansion at the bakerys Claremont Avenue location. As part of booming growth, which has included 70 new jobs since February, the plan involves consolidation of other Archway storage warehouses in town to the new space, said Archway facility manager John Aldrich. The consolidation would result in 20 more jobs at the Archway plant, he said.Our goal, ultimately, is to end up with this building, Aldrich said. There will be about 250 (jobs in all) when this is through.According to Michael Mowry of Mowry Construction and Engineering, with construction, officials are considering the possibility of having a developer build the warehouse, which would connect to the back of the current building, with Archway then leasing the space.He proposed a lot split to the commission so the developer could own the property, with access by an easement located on the southwest side of Claremont Avenue between Seddon Drive and Baney Road. Mowry said the developer is not sure it wants to split the property yet, but would like to know what its options are. He said a similar easement was approved a few years ago.City Engineer Jim Cooper made a motion, which was approved, to grant the easement contingent on the final lot and plans. The lot split could be taken care of separately, he said, and once the easements are worked out, he would support it. According to Aldrich, the majority of the 70 new jobs have occurred within the last month due to new products brought in, convergences and increased production. The consolidation results from the new production, he said.The existing Archway building is about 170,000 square feet. It reported employment of about 180 in early 2005.In other business, commission members briefly discussed their efforts to review residential zoning in the city. Tom McGee, commission president, said the group agreed there probably would need to be only a few minor changes in the citys ordinances. With only three members of the commission present, the group decided to discuss the issue further at its next regular meeting.Also at the meeting, Cooper told the commission phase one of the Ashland Business Park project is complete. He also said the wastewater treatment plant equalization basin should be complete within a month.n Darcie Loreno can be reached at 419-281-0581 ext. 237 or at dloreno@times-gazette.com.